Zara Supply Chain Analysis College Essay Mrahman
the availability of sufficient capacity . Typically , Zara manufactures about 50 of their own products within their internal Spanish factory network . If buyers feel the internal network cannot meet their required terms , they can outsource to other manufacturers , in other countries if necessary . This being the case , Zara outsources about 80 of their products to Europe , and only about 20 to Asia . Zara prefers to keep production within close geographical proximity in order to ensure fast response times for orders (Ferdows et al , 2003 sourcing strategies and supply chain configurations At Zara fast fashion is at the foundation of

their sourcing strategy . Designs are conceived with the target market in mind - women and men between the ages of 16 and 35 who desire inexpensive , yet ahead-of-the-trend fashions . Zara s design conceptualizations can go from design to production to delivery in fifteen days . Their sourcing strategy entails a mix of 60 external fabrics sourcing , 40 internal fabrics sourcing , 50 in-house manufacturing , and 50 external manufacturing . Distribution of new fashions takes place twice a week , and each shipment always includes new models therefore stores are consistently presented with new merchandise and quantities are generally kept low . Rather than relying on forecasting methods , Zara produces limited quantities of the hottest fashions , and then quickly moves on to the next style . Customers know that if they want a new item , they must buy it quickly before it disappears off the shelves forever . This quot fast fashion quot system relies heavily on a constant exchange of information throughout every part of Zara 039 s supply chain . Most companies are not able to leverage this type of vertically-integrated supply chain due to layers of bureaucracy and barriers that impede communication between departments . Zara is structured , both organizationally and geographically , in such a way as to foster information transfer . Zara has...





